Reading in the Mountains

Hemingway said “No friend is as loyal as a book”.  I have a lot of friends and especially in the mountains of Yellowstone, but I prefer to visit my friends in the books I have with me right now. Anyone who knows me would tell you that Im a bookworm and there is not a damn thing wrong with that. I’ve read the classics like Fitzgerald and Shakespere, and especially Hemingway. “A Farewell to Arms” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls”. Hemingway was one to travel the world and the story goes that he wrote “For Whom the Bell Tolls” in the mountains of Wyoming and Idaho.

Hemingway is definetly one of those people I can pick up and visit some of his characters time and time again and be completly in awe. He wasn’t one of those authors who wrote a series of novels with one main character, the closest he came to that were the Nick Adams stories. When you delve into a Hemingway story or novel you can bet that you will be learning alot about life, various aspects of life, love and happiness and just hard the world really is. Ernest Hemingway is one author I always take with me when I go to Wyoming. He definetly fits in here for sure.

The other author I take with me is C.J. Box. He is the quintessential Wyoming author. He’s best known for his series of novels featuring Joe Pickett, the Wyoming Game Warden for the Saddlestring district in Twelve Sleep County. What’s really unique about the Joe Pickett novels is actually alot, the gorgeous scenery, the amazing twists that are as shocking yet thrilling as TV shows like “Person of Interest” and “NCIS”. The character Joe Pickett is not like every action hero tough guy around today. He’s a terrible shot, he’s been beaten up and had his vehicles blown up. Definetly the opposite of John Wayne, but Pickett is still tough in his own unique way. He’s connected to his family and is a man of his community.

What also is amazing about Box’s books are the issues that affect the Mountain West. One book takes on the issue of The Endangered Species Act. Other issues have included The Wind energy movement, Emminet Domain, The Good Meat movement which really weirded me out when I first read about it but it by god is real and still going on. Box doesn’t push the issue for you to lean on one side or the other, but rather uses Joe Pickett to investigate the crime set around the issue and lets you be the judge as to where you stand on the issue.

My favorite thing about his books has to be Joe friend, Nate Romanowski. Nate’s definetly an anti hero for our times. A outlaw falconer with long blond hair and carries the biggest and baddest gun around. A .500 Wyoming Express. He helps Joe out on cases. Nate has a unique past, he used to be a member of an elite special forces unit but circumstances led him to the Wyoming mountains. I could go on gushing about this character but I recommend reading “Force of Nature” to learn about him.

I could continue with my recommendations, but the point is this: No matter where you travel in this world, you can always bring a book with you and just travel to another world that we all wish we can be in right now instead of our messed up world.

Til we meet again,

Wade